The Government’s promise of “Deliver-ing the Good Life to All Guyanese,” has fallen woefully short, is the conclusion of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) after its examination of the 2017 Budget.
Several provisions in the Budget will only serve to engender even greater hardships on the already overburdened working-classindeed all working people, according to a press release from FITUG. The imposition of VAT on electricity and water; the reduction in the number of VAT exempted and zero-rated items which will affect medical supplies and services and treatments, among others, the massive increase in the costs for a number of licenses, fees and penalties, are some of the new pressures that the Budget is bringing that will have to be borne by the workers, pensioners and other Guyanese.
The media bulletin further noted that these latest burdens come just a few months after the Government increased about one hundred and forty taxes, some as high as 1,200 percent.
The introduction of parking meters and the rumoured increases of rates and taxes, land lease fees and the Demerara Harbour Bridge tolls, suggests worse is yet to come. The marginal reduction of VAT or the income tax adjustments or the paltry pension increase, which are meant to be budgetary “cushions” will be consumed by the already approved and now proposed changes.
The Budget sorely lacks specific details or policies to address the current and rising unemployment situation, the press release added. Citing the Minister’s inaugural Budget address in 2015 where he pointed out that unemployment was fuelling, “ crime and drugs; poverty; and reduced life expectancy”, FITUG stated that the numbers have since swollen the ranks of the unemployed and very little, if not scant attention has been paid to such a crucial issue.
The Federation’s press release also pointed out that the Budget failed to address the plight of the thousands of sugar workers (and their families) who have had no pay increases for the past two years.
FITUG’s bulletin summed up the Budget as anti-working class and draconian in its measures, and said will serve to push many ordinary Guyanese into an impoverished state. The federation is urging the Granger Administration to re-look at the Budget, with a view to rescinding the many measures which will be severe blows on the people, especially the poor and the working-people of our country.
